Atherosclerosis is a coronary disease wherein fatty substances (lipids), hereinafter referred to as atheromatous plaques, form deposits in and beneath the intima which is the innermost membrane lining arteries and veins. Atherosclerosis tends to involve large and medium-sized arteries. Most commonly affected are the aorta and the iliac, femoral, coronary, and cerebral arteries. Clinical symptoms occur because the mass of the atherosclerotic plaque reduces blood flow through the involved artery and thereby compromises tissue or organ function distal to it.
Modern treatment of atherosclerosis revolves around highly sophisticated coronary care units. In general, modern medicine follows one of two approaches to the care of patients suffering from atherosclerotic complications: either (1) the diseased vascular segments are replaced with prosthetic or natural grafts, even going as far as heart transplantation or (2) drugs such as antiarrhythmic agents, anticoagulants and plasma lipid lowering agents are administered to enable the patient to live with the condition. Neither approach contemplates a cure of the diseased members.